Read about Russian politics. Kasparovs book is a good place to start - yes, I'm interested in Russia. I thought Garry Kasparov was an excellent chess player. But political analyst? Dunno. Is he balanced? Does he give sensible political analysis? Or does he rail against Putin like the British left does against 'Tory scum'?

Putin has an ongoing campaign of aggression against the west and he has so far come out on top again and again - yes, the clearest evidence that some kind of change in dealing with him is needed (insanity = doing the same thing again and expecting different results!).

If Putin is given Crimea now against lifting sanctions - Obama and NATO couldn't or wouldn't stop Putin taking Crimea at the time. What's the point closing the stable door after the horse has bolted?

LUHE: Kasparov is fairly well read and the book is accessible; he warned about what Putin would become early on and what he initially said came true. I thought he was overreacting but then Crimea happened. In terms of political bias he is a Reaganite.

Concretely, what do you propose doing with Putin?

Make him promise not to do the things he says he haven't done against lifting sanctions against him?

Play it out. What do you think Putin would learn from that experience?

Spoletta: Damn right. If Hillary tried to pull this crap, I would be the first to call her out and the media/GOP would be all over her as they

Concretely, what do you propose doing with Putin? - I think it's a difficult issue, and even more difficult for me, given my ignorance.

Couldn't America offer Putin some kind of incentives to back off the Ukraine and Baltics and quit interfering in EU countries?

The situation's very difficult. Crimea has an ethnic Russian majority so I don't think Ukraine will get it back. Is it correct that the majority of Crimea's population wanted to be part of Russia again?

As for Ukraine itself, the eastern half has always been closer to Moscow than Kiev (I think).

Couldn't America, the EU, NATO and Russia sit round a table, establish some kind of working relationship and jointly work on policies and deals for mutual advantage?

littlerockguy. The Martin Luther King bust was mistakenly reported as missing, and the reporter who made that claim immediately retracted his statement and did his best to inform other journalists of his error. He apologized to the White House and Sean Spicer accepted his apology on behalf of the President. Funny how the right didn't pick up on this.

Besides, if this is the best you've got on media bias, I'm not particularly worried about the integrity of the MSM.

I think we use language differently and our background gives us different expectation about what terms like "the left" and "the right" means.

Well, mine is based on a history of UK politics so my definition of left v right is more to the left of centre than say US politics. I still don't fully understand why "the left" even wanted Clinton to win, she is as right wing and hawkish as half the republican clown car was.

Part of what has gone wrong in the US is they haven't had decent liberal representatives. They have people who call themselves liberal because they want the votes but a lot of it has become an ugly caricature of what it's really supposed to be. They are illiberal on so many things, I wonder what the point of them is.

The right are also nuts in different ways but seem more fixed in their positions and generally less extreme.

Simon. Despite any denial, you are definitely biased towards the right, so I will choose to assume that you'll ignore any evidence that contradicts your viewpoint. Disdain for someone else's facts doesn't make them wrong and you right. It just makes you Trump.

The US "left" is wa-a-a-a-y right of center compare to what other countries have.

Which is why, even if Bernie had gotten a fair shake I doubt he would have won. The surest way to lose an election in the US is to get within shouting distance of the word "liberal", and he fully embraced the term.

Right now I agree more with what the right are saying and doing than with what the left are saying and doing. I think the left is far more dangerous and toxic. They have lost the plot and jumped the shark on too many issues.

None of that makes me Trump.

What's you next claim going to be? Because I'm not a black woman I must be a nazi?